Gigabit-networked microscopy used to create a cross-country learning environment

Gigabit-networked microscopy used to create a cross-country learning environment

USC is partnering with a STEM high school in Chattanooga and using gigabit networks to send high-definition 4K images of microorganisms directly into the classrooms This gives students live access to researchers and lives microscopic images, observations, and knowledge directly into their classrooms.

Project milestone

Prototype Complete

Idea Complete

Prototype Complete

In Development

Deployed

Commercialized

Impact statement

This approach brings researchers and their microscopic images, observations, and knowledge directly into remote STEM high school classrooms. The project represents the first to integrate digital cinema, optical microscopy, marine microbiology, 4k flat panel displays and gigabit networks into an educational environment in a scalable fashion. As an educational tool, this project will give students the opportunity to see, appreciate and understand the complexity, beauty, and science of the microworld that surrounds us, is critical to life on earth, and yet is otherwise invisible. It will be an enlightening educational experience for each student to grasp that the microlife they are seeing breaks the barriers of what is visible to the eye, and what can be transmitted over the network, while opening up the world of the microscope as a powerful tool for further explorations throughout their education and career.